The Inspiring Story of Randal Nardone in Investment Management

Randal Nardone is a successful businessman and financial investor who co-founded the Fortress Investment Group. Fortress is a diverse global investment management firm with a large asset base under their management. His journey in the world of finance has been quite odd since he never studied a finance related course in college. The experience he has gained over the slightly over two decades he has been in the industry has, however, established him as one of the top players. Randal studied Biology and English in his undergraduate at the University of Connecticut. He later went back to class and earned his J.D from Boston University Law School.

After school, Randal Nardone got a lawyer job at Thatcher Proffitt & Woods where he was later promoted to become a partner. Since he could not shake off his interest in finance, he decided to get a job in the field. Randal worked briefly for Blackrock Financial Management as a managing director before moving on to Union Bank of Switzerland. While at UBS he got the idea of a private equity firm but did not have the resources to execute. This shortcoming saw him seeking partnership with other financial gurus, Wes Edens and Rob Kauffman. Together they formed Fortress Investment Group and served as principals to date apart from Rob who retired.

In 2007, Fortress Investment Group decided to go public by opening its IPO and was listed in the New York Stock Exchange. This made the value of the shares of the founder members to go up, and Randal Nardone was named in the Forbes Billionaires list at position 557 with an estimated worth of $1.8 billion. In 2017, a Japanese bank, SoftBank bought a controlling stake of Fortress for $3.3 billion. The bank, however, agreed to retain the management of the company for their incredible managerial capabilities. Speaking on the purchase, Randal Nardone believes it will enable the group to even expand more by giving it a global outlook. At the time of the sale, Fortress was managing over $ 43 billion worth of assets for its over 2000 investors all over the world.